Tuesday, May 17, 2011

We're kind of accustomed to seeing Jon Stewart pretty much mop the floor with Bill O'Reilly every time he goes up against him on Fox -- even when O'Reilly tries to carefully edit the tapes.
And of course, it was no different last night when Stewart took up
O'Reilly's challenge to debate him over the latest fake controversy
ginned up by the network's smear-scandal mills.

In two short segments, O'Reilly walked through his case,
responded to factual charges of hypocrisy with some fairly sad parsing
and then, when desperate, with rank "pettifogging," to use a term
bandied by both men. Meanwhile, the "Daily Show" anchor's rebuttals
were striking because, even in this casual mode on a minor item, he was
more persuasive than the vast majority of people who are called on to
represent a progressive view on TV.

The highlight came when O'Reilly, the past master of the Wurlitzer
propaganda organ, accused Stewart of "pettifogging" the issue -- and
then found himself promptly busted for pettifogging himself.

Stewart basically reiterated the points he'd already raised in The Daily Show's own rebuttals
of the Fox fakery -- namely, Fox is hypocritical in its criteria for
denouncing White House guests, especially given the network's own
predilection for hosting people with violent backgrounds.

STEWART: It sounds like what you're saying -- and correct
me if I'm wrong because I don't want to be wrong when I'm with you,
'cuz you know I got mad love for you -- that's a rap phrase...

O'REILLY: I got it.

STEWART: Correct me if I'm wrong. What you're saying is, if an artist
supports someone that has been convicted of killing a cop, they should
not be allowed to go to the White House. Is that a reasonable
paraphrase?

O'REILLY: No, it's a little bit more than that.

STEWART: OK, say it.

O'REILLY: I am saying that when a president invites someone, in this
case, the First Lady invites someone, the resume has to be put in front
of them. And they have to select people who are almost unimpeachable,
all right? Because they are getting that honor, to go to the White
House. This guy is controversial all day long with this stuff. Not only
did he support this cop killer, or celebrate the cop killer, he
celebrated another one in Philadelphia!

O'REILLY: No. I think he was raising questions about it. And, and, the basic theme --

STEWART: Now who's pettifogging? Now I can't even see you! Here you pettifog. No -- that's exactly same!

O'REILLY: OK.

STEWART: Bob Dylan wrote a song about a convicted killer named
Hurricane Carter -- he's been to the White House. Why are you drawing a
line at Common?

There is a collective outrage machine here at Fox that pettifogs only
when it suits the narrative that suits them. This guy is in the
crosshairs in a way he shouldn't be. Whether you agree with him or not,
or you may think he's ignorant in believing Assadah Shakur is innocent.
You may think he's ignorant in believing that Mumia is. But then guess
what? Bono can't go to the White House, Springsteen can't go to the
White House, Bob Dylan can't go to the White House. You got a lot of
people that aren't allowed to sit in the White House because they've
written songs about people convicted of murder.

There were also some delicious exchanges in the second half of the
interview, particularly when Stewart brought up G. Gordon Liddy:

O'REILLY: OK. So you say, that because Bono, Springsteen, and Bob Dylan
wrote songs defending people who were accused of heinous things, that I
have to give Common a pass because he did the same thing.

STEWART: No. You have to be consistent with your outrage.

...

STEWART: G. Gordon Liddy, in the Randy Weaver case, after the ATF
stormed that facility, right? When he was talking about the ATF, you
know what he said on his radio show? He said, if they break down your
doors, don't shoot them here [indicates torso], because they're wearing
protective gear, shoot for the head.

O'REILLY: Was that before or after Liddy made the gold commercial?

STEWART: [laughs]

O'REILLY: OK, you see, your craziness -- you bring this stuff in.

O'Reilly obviously had no response to that one, because he obviously deflected the point and changed the subject there.

I wonder what would have happened if Stewart had managed to bring up Richard Poplawski -- an actual cop killer who was inspired by, among other people, Fox's own Glenn Beck.

Sara Robinson has worked as an editor or columnist for several national magazines, on beats as varied as sports, travel, and the Olympics; and has contributed to over 80 computer games for EA, Lucasfilm, Disney, and many other companies. A native of California's High Sierra, she spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She currently is pursuing an MS in Futures Studies at the University of Houston. You can reach her at srobinson@enginesofmischief.com.